


Trouble sure was looking fine

by thunderfcknroad



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 08:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderfcknroad/pseuds/thunderfcknroad
Summary: Beau works in a coffee shop. Well actually she works for the super secret order of monks called The Cobalt Soul but seeing as they need to stay hidden...Beau sometimes has to pretend she works in a coffee shop.On the other hand, their only customer was starting to cause Beau's hardened exterior to slip slightly...





	1. Wednesday

**Author's Note:**

> Self indulgent lesbians!! Tropes with a twist is my favourite thing so here we go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the Cobalt Soul

Beau pushed open the door to Blue Spirit Coffee and sighed. She could still feel her ribs from yesterday’s training and was really not in the mood to go another round quite so soon but duty was duty. She started to shrug off her jacket and kicked open the door labelled “Staff Only”. She punched her code into the pad on the wall and entered the Cobalt Soul.

Beau wishes she could say that there was a difference in the state of the front establishment and the super-secret monk training facilities behind it but that would unfortunately be a lie. Beau kicked aside a wet floor sign, secretly hoping someone would fall over later, and turned into the locker room. There were no gendered locker rooms. They kept telling them it was because they were trained to be entirely equal but Beau just assumed they didn’t have the space for two locker rooms. She threw her jacket into a locker and started wrapping her hands. She shoved her duffel bag in with her jacket and slammed the door. Pulling her hair into a bun, she made her way to the gym.

Dairon was waiting as usual.

“You’re late.”

“No, I’m exactly on time.”

“On time is late.”

“No late is late.”

Dairon started moving into a defensive stance, indicating they were starting training. “Late is late. On time is late. Early is late.”

Beau mirrored Dairon’s stance. “Jeez do you ever sleep?”

Dairon didn’t dignify Beau’s retort with an answer, instead beau narrowly dodged an oncoming fist.

About an hour in, Beau hit pause on their training.

“Hey Dairon, my ribs are fucked from last session honestly I think I’m gonna just take an extra day of book duty. I can’t do this sparring session justice.”

Dairon raised an eyebrow but backed off. “Fine. I expect a double session on Sunday.”

Beau groaned but didn’t object.

Just at that moment the PA system in the gym crackled.

_“Beauregard take the watch. Beauregard take the watch.”_

“Like fucking clockwork.” Beau muttered and started unwrapping her arm wrappings.

She jogged out of the training area. She grabbed a fake apron from the “staff room” and went out into the café.

 

“Hi welcome to Blue Spirit Coffee what can I get you this morning?”

“Hi! It’s just me!”

Beau couldn’t help but smile a little at the chirpy accent from their only regular. The girl was incapable of standing still which caused her blue bob cut to bounce a little around her face, showing off her silver ear cuff every so often. As she gave Beau an awkward but adorable wave Beau could see the dozens of rings that decorated her fingers. Today she was wearing a pink anorak and Beau would be lying if seeing her every second morning didn’t make the weeks bearable.

“I figured. Chai latte with hazelnut syrup and extra cinnamon I assume?”

The girl’s face lit up.

“Aww you remember my order!”

Beau bit her lip and turned away to the coffee machine to hide the smile that was creeping onto her face.

“You order the same thing every time. It's been like two weeks, I’d have to have a pretty bad memory to not get that one.”

“Ok but you must get so many people in here, you know, but you still remember mine! So either you like me a lot or you’re really clever. Or maybe both.”

The girl was leaning on the counter with her chin in her hands, now, batting her eyelashes at Beau. Beau was trying not to blush. There was no way she could answer that question so she just grabbed a cup from the pile.

“You’re the only person who comes in here.”

Confusion flashed across the girl’s face and she stood up.

“Really? Wow! That’s so weird the coffee here is so good!” Beau tried to not burst into laughter but instead she just ended up coughing. Searing pains shot up her side from her messed up ribs and she hissed in pain.

Before Beau knew what was happening, the girl was in front of her.

“No no, shit, you can’t be back here I’m gonna get in trouble Jesus fucking Christ.” She tried to push the girl back around the counter but her ribs flared up again and besides, she found the girl was surprisingly strong.

Beau was going to pretend that didn’t make her mind spiral.

“Oh are you hurt? Are you ok? What happened? Let me see.”

The girl’s hands were tugging at her shirt and Beau batted them away.

“No! no no it’s fine. I’m fine, ok? Now get out from behind the counter before my boss sees and I’ll make you your coffee and I can go back to studying like I’m supposed to be doing.”

Beau’s voice was colder than she had intended but there was no way this girl was going to react well to the masterpiece of blossoming bruises that currently painted her abdomen. She watched the girl’s hands fall by her side in defeat and she pouted slightly.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to help I’m very good at helping injured people.”

Beau sighed and finished making the coffee. “I’m sorry I just. It’s kind of private.”

There was a beat of silence before the girl spoke up again.

“What do you study?”

Beau was caught off guard. She handed the chai latte to the girl. “What do you mean?”

The girl took it and wrapped her hands around it like it was her only source of warmth in the entire world before shrugging. “Well you said you should be studying. I want to know if you like me or if you really are clever.”

Beau chuckled a little. “Um. History. Kinda.”

The girl smiled again. “Oooh kinda history. That’s my favourite type of history.”

Beau didn’t even try to hide her smile at that.

The girl’s smiled even brighter in surprise. “Oh! You have a really pretty smile!”

Beau just blushed a little.

“Well I have to go. I’m Jester by the way. I don’t wear a name tag so I figured I should just tell you.”

Beau stared after the girl in confusion. She glanced down at her apron. There was a fading sticker on it that had the name “Tracy” scrawled on it. How had she never realised there were fake name tags? How had she been here 4 months and never realised that?

“Um my name’s not…” she didn’t finish her sentence because when she looked up the only trace of Jester was the corner of a pink anorak disappearing around the corner.

Beau just whispered “Fuck” under her breath before going back through the door into the monastery. As she slammed the door behind her and took off down the hall to the library, she suddenly found herself on her ass. She glanced next to her and spotted the discarded ‘wet floor’ sign from earlier.

“Fuck!”

Today could not get more embarrassing.


	2. Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beau calls in the big guns to help her with her budding crush. It goes as well as one might expect when "the big guns" are a scrawny nerd with a cat.

The day didn’t get more embarrassing, thankfully, but Beau could not stop thinking about the incident even as the week dragged on. Once the initial embarrassment faded Beau found her mind drifting the how it felt when jester put her hands on her side. Jester standing so close to her. Jester trying to take her shirt off.

Oh man nope. If Beau spent another hour alone in this library, she was going to have to pull her brain out with a hook like the Egyptians did.

She pulled out her phone.

 

_To: Caleb Widogast_

_Hey widogast wanna see some cool books. You know my code._

 

There was no return text but the space of time between the text being sent and a slightly out of breath Caleb appearing beside her was so short he must have jogged.

“Hello Beauregard. How are you today. I’d talk about the weather but you don’t look like you’ve seen the sun in about 4 days.”

Beau rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. Do you want to go get some books before you do small talk? I like you better when you are only half listening to me.”

Caleb nodded and darted off into the shelves.

Beau jumped as something warm brushed against her leg.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Caleb.” Begrudgingly, she reached down and rubbed Frumpkin behind the ears. When Caleb returned with a stack of what looked like a solid years’ worth of reading material, Frumpkin had settled on Beau’s lap and was purring contentedly.

Caleb shrugged off his coat and opened the first tome before shooting a quick look at Beau.

“So, what’s your problem.”

“Why do you immediately assume I have a problem?”

Caleb’s eyes didn’t move from the page and he said nothing. The only sign Beau got that Caleb had registered her question was single eyebrow raise. Beau sat in silence for another couple of seconds, sulking, before sighing.

“Ok so there’s this girl…”

Beau quietly relayed the events of that fateful morning. Caleb listened in silence and when Beau trailed off at the end he sighed and closed his book.

“Beauregard you are making a really big deal out of nothing.”

“Dude, did you even hear the part where the cute girl tried to take my shirt off in the middle of the coffee shop?”

“Oh, so this is a lesbian thing?”

Beau made a sound of frustration. “Yes of course it is! Were you even listening or are you being purposefully dense right now?”

Beau watched a smile tug at the corner of Caleb’s lips and she knew it was the latter.

“Fuck you, Caleb.”

“No, no, I think you mean fuck he-“

Beau punched him in the shoulder before he could finish his incredibly inappropriate dad joke. He opened his mouth to speak again but he was cut off by the PA system crackling.

_“Beauregard take the watch. Beauregard take the watch.”_

Beau glanced at the clock on the wall and swore.

“Shit, Caleb, that’s gotta be her. Fuck what do I do?”

Caleb carefully packed up his stuff and stood up. Frumpkin left Beau’s lap and hopped into Caleb’s satchel and Beau practically launched herself towards the exit before sprinting through the hallway.

She threw on an apron, tried to compose herself and went to face the music.

“Hi welcome to Blue Spirit Coffee. The usual?”

Beau tried to sound less out of breath than she was.

“Hi! Did you know I’ve always wanted to be able to walk into a coffee shop and either ask for or be asked for the ‘usual’?”

She said ‘the usual’ in a stupid accent that made Beau chuckle a bit.

“Well I’m glad I could help this dream become a reality.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Are you out of breath?”

Beau swore silently and made a mental note to let Dairon get an extra punch in on Sunday.

“No not at all. Uh. Why?”

“Oh well, you know. I don’t know. You sound it. Just a little bit. But like, you can’t have come from very far because the staff room is right there you know. I’m just curious. Were you secretly making out with someone in the staff room?”

Beau could tell from Jester’s tone that she was teasing and she felt a little more at ease.

“Yeah obviously, Jester. That’s just how I pass the time here. Practically get paid to make out with people in the staff room.”

And of course, Caleb Widogast would choose that exact moment to step out of the staff room still halfway through calmly putting his coat on.

Beau watched as Jester’s eyes widened slightly and Beau saw some of the bravado fade a little. Caleb looked between Beau and Jester and back to Beau.

“Uh, Jester, this is my friend Caleb. He, uh, was helping me study. He’s super clever he can remember things almost perfectly almost all the time.” Beau wanted to hit herself as she felt herself rambling.

Caleb nodded and shook Jester’s hand. “It is nice to meet you, miss Jester. Beauregard has told me lots about you.”

With that Jester’s face lit up again for a second before being replaced with more confusion.

“Wait, who?”

Beau could see Caleb starting to flounder and sighed before coughing to get Jester’s attention.

“Uh. Beauregard is me. I’m Beauregard. Most people call me Beau. I meant to tell you when you mentioned my name tag but you were gone too quickly. The name tag is uh, a joke, I think.”

Beau smiled sheepishly and pushed Jester’s coffee across the counter for her.

Jester took it. “It is nice to meet you Beau. I like that name a lot better than Tracy.” Beau heard Caleb chuckle slightly before she heard “Ach Scheisse! Nein!” and she watched as Caleb started to wrestle with his satchel to no avail.

Frumpkin was on the move and was headed straight for Jester.

“Oh hello little guy!”

Jester seemed overjoyed by the animal that was now wrapping itself around her neck and batting at the ribbon in her space buns. So overjoyed in fact, that in her excitement she knocked over her coffee.

Beau, on reflex, caught it lightning fast without spilling a drop.

Jester’s eyes widened. “Wow you have fast reflexes, Beau.”

Beau chuckled nervously. “Yeah well. A lot of clumsy customers knocking over coffees. Part of the job.”

“I thought you said I was basically your only customer.”

Beau’s heart stopped and she felt the air stand still for a second. She could feel Jester’s questioning eyes boring into her soul trying to extract all her secrets.

Caleb calmly broke the tension by carefully lifting Frumpkin from Jester’s neck and onto his own. Frumpkin contentedly took to attacking Caleb’s already ratty hair.

“Right I should go. Beauregard I will return the books to you tomorrow. And if you still need a hand with that last chapter I am always on hand. It was lovely to meet you, miss Jester. Beauregard’s descriptions, as vivid as they were, did no justice to how charming you are in person.”

Jester giggled and blushed and Beau shot daggers at Caleb’s back as he sauntered away.

Beau muttered something about hating her friends.

Jester was staring curiously at Beau. Before she nodded and wandered to a table. Little red flags were going off in Beau’s mind.

“Um, aren’t you going to head out?”

Jester shook her head. A strand of blue hair slipped from her space buns and fell in front of her face. It would be so easy for Beau to walk over and gently tuck it behind her ear. Maybe her fingers would trail along Jester’s cheek a little.

She stopped her fantasy to register what Jester was saying to her.

“Nah I have the day off actually and I don’t really have anywhere to be and my other friends are all busy except you because you work in a coffee shop where no one buys coffee so I thought I’d stay and talk to you. Unless you really want to get back to studying which is totally fine, you know, you don’t have to I was just suggesting.”

Beau looked at the clock. There was absolutely no way this was going to be ok with Dairon but in that moment she didn’t care. She collapsed into one of the chairs at the table Jester was sitting at.

They talked for hours. Jester was fascinating. She had so many crazy stories that Beau figured at least some of them must be made up but it didn’t matter because watching Jester tell the stories was almost as interesting as the stories themselves. Beau loved the way she spoke with her whole body and how when she got really excited she struggled to sit down at all. Beau was starting to figure she could probably listen to Jester read the phone book when the staff room door slammed open.

Beau flinched slightly as she saw Dairon leaning against the door frame. Dairon said nothing. They did not need to. Beau sighed.

“Alright I’m coming.”

Dairon just nodded and closed the door again.

Beau turned to Jester.

“I’m sorry that’s my manager. I have, uh, a tonne of paper work to do I guess.”

Jester was just staring at the staff room.

“How many of you fit in there? And how did she not notice Caleb if you were supposed to be doing paperwork? Did she not see you guys making out like. Right there?”

Beau groaned. “Ok I really don’t have a lot of time to explain anything right now but me and Caleb are so definitely not making out you have no idea. He was helping me with finances because he’s super smart like I said and I promise there’s nothing more than that. He’s completely not my type.”

Beau heard a muffled tap on the door indicating Dairon was either really feeling the rhythm of the elevator music that played in the shop, or she was getting very close to roundhouse kicking Beau through a wall.

“I really have to go I’m sorry.”

Jester smiled sympathetically and shooed Beau in the direction of the door. “Go go go! And it’s good to know you and Caleb aren’t kissing thank you that’s nice to know!”

Beau only just caught the last part of the sentence as she pulled the staff room door closed behind her.

Dairon just stared at her.

Beau rolled her eyes before pulling off the apron and muttering “Yeah I’ll mop the floors as punishment give me a hot second.”


	3. Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> moves are being made.

Sunday rolled round quicker than Beau’s bruised ribs would have liked but, nonetheless, by 8am she was standing in the training ring with Dairon.

She steeled herself and they got to work. There was a brief moment when Beau thought Dairon might be holding back

The second she thought that, Dairon hit her with six quick punches and she found herself on the ground.

“You are distracted, Beauregard. Does it have anything to do with who you were talking to the other day while you were neglecting your studies?”

Beau pushed herself onto her feet. “Nah just everything to do with my bruised ribs.”

There was a brief moment where Beau watched Dairon’s expression falter. Her fists lowered momentarily in what seemed to be confusion.

“In all these months, with all your problems, that’s the first time you’ve lied to me.”

The words hit Beau in the gut so hard she kind of wished Dairon would just punch her another couple of times instead.

“How do you know that? I could be lying to you all the damn time, you don’t know.”

“Beauregard we literally trade in secrets professionally. And you are far too easy to read.” Dairon’s stance had shifted back into defensive, any hint of the confusion gone from their eyes.

Beau opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Dairon hooked a foot round her ankles and she fell over again.

Letting out a scream of frustration, she stood back up. She glanced at the clock.

Oh fuck. Any minute now.

“Stop looking at the clock.”

Beau managed to catch Dairon’s fist before it connected with her temple and retaliated with a flurry of blows to various pressure points on their abdomen.

Dairon smiled. “Better.”

By the time the PA system crackled to life Beau was already marching towards the door and unwrapping her arms.

“Hey Jester.”

“Hey Beau.” Beau couldn’t help but smile at how Jester drew out the vowel at the end of her name.

“Oh my gosh, Beau, what happened to your face?”

Beau glanced briefly at her reflection in the shiny coffee machine and noticed the beginnings of a couple of bruises starting to form. She really was going to have to ask for more library duty soon or she was going to be nothing but a pulp.

_“Or just be better at sparring.”_

She sighed at the voice in her head.

“Aw man not the face. I will never date again.” Beau dramatically pretended to swoon which made Jester giggle. Mission accomplished.

“Did someone do this to you?”

Beau considered the various answers to that question.

“Nah did it to myself. I fell of my bike.”

Jester seemed to perk up a little. “Oh that’s so bad. I think you’ll definitely be able to date again though. You are still very pretty and also handsome. Whichever you prefer.”

Beau blushed. She mumbled, “handsome is fine” before turning back to make Jester’s coffee.

When she handed it to Jester, she couldn’t help but notice the way Jester’s hand lingered over her own and she felt her stomach flip.

“You know you seem injured a lot, Beau.” Jester’s eyes flicked down to the counter. “If someone _was_ doing this to you… you could tell me. I wouldn’t do anything… I just don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Training at the Cobalt Soul, Beau had gotten very good at keeping secrets. But more than that, she’d gotten very good at not wanting to tell anyone secrets. This was her thing. Sure, Caleb knew, but he was practically a ghost half the time so he didn’t count. She liked having this secret. She liked being able to go somewhere that no one else knew about and not care about what people thought.

But for the first time, Beau’s heart ached to tell someone. Beau’s heart ached to tell Jester. The idea of Jester worrying about her, not knowing that it was part of normal training. The idea of Jester thinking someone was hurting her. Those thoughts made Beau want to scream.

Beau was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed Jester’s next offer.

“I know you have a day off on Tuesday. If you’re not doing anything do you think maybe you want to come over to mine? We could watch a movie or something, I don’t know. Just. I think you should rest and I want to spend more time with you and I think we can do both things at the same time.”

Jester was blushing slightly and Beau was dumbstruck.

“Uh. Sure yeah that would be cool.”

Jester’s face lit up. “Yay! Ok give me your phone so I can add my number and I will text you.”

Beau silently unlocked her phone and handed it across the counter. She sincerely hoped Dairon wasn’t watching the cameras right now or the second half of her training was going to suck.

Jester tapped away on her phone and passed it back.

“I sent myself a text so I have your number too. See you soon!”

Jester skipped out of the coffee shop, leaving a blushing beau standing by the counter clutching her phone to her chest. She unlocked her phone and it opened on a text thread. Just seeing Jester’s name at the top of the screen was enough to send Beau’s mind spiraling a little bit.

Suddenly another text appeared on her screen. An address. Immediately followed by another text.

 

_From: Jester_

_See you round 1?_

 

_To: Jester_

_Sure_

 

_From: Jester_

_Yayyyy! It’s a date!_

 

Beau’s world stopped. Her face broke in to a ridiculous grin as she typed back.

 

_To: Jester_

_It’s a date_

 

Beau flung her apron back on the couch and made her way back to the training area. Dairon was nowhere to be seen so Beau took to the punching bag to continue her training on her own.  

 

When she walked home that day there were 7 texts waiting for her on her phone.

 

_From: Jester_

_Did you know in the 80s dunkin donuts released a donut cereal?!!!?!!!!_

_Beau I need this cereal._

_Who would I have to kill for this_

_Do u know any hit men_

_Or people with access to 80s cereals_

_Either or_

 

And one text from Dairon.

 

_From: Dairon (CS)_

_Take until next Sunday off from training. You need to heal._

 

Beau whispered a silent thank you as she swiped away Dairon’s text.

She stared at Jester’s texts and laughed a little.

 

_To: Jester_

_How do you know that I’m not a hitman?_

_If you find that cereal in your house soon don’t tell the cops ;)_

 

The reply was instant.

 

_From: Jester_

_Ooooh pretty and mysterious! I will unlock your dark hidden secrets and show you the light._

_And I will do so with donuts and terrible romance movies!_

 

Beau actually giggled before a sinking sensation settled in her stomach as she remembered that Jester had no idea that she really did have weird dark secrets.

How would she even react? If this flirtation went any further was it going to be possible to maintain that without coming clean?

Beau was starting to understand Dairon’s “don’t get attached” teachings more and more. She slipped her phone into her pocket and decided that was a problem for her future self. Her present self was just going to enjoy the fact that she had a date with a very cute girl in two days.


	4. Monday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beau gets no nonsense pep talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones a little short but it felt wrong to lump it in with either the previous or following chapters so here it stands on its lonesome

Beau threw herself into her studies on Monday in an attempt to stop fidgeting. The day crept by second by second and Beau was starting to wonder if eating the pages of her texts would make her brain consume the information any better.

 

_ From: Caleb Widogast _

_ Are you im library? _

_ *in _

 

Beau shot back an affirmative text and waited incredibly impatiently for Caleb to arrive.

When he did arrive, he quietly slipped some books out of his bag and sat across from her. He looked at her for a couple of seconds before sighing.

“Ok out with it.”

“I have a date with Jester tomorrow.”

Caleb chuckled. Beau was almost taken aback by the sound. It was a rare joy to hear Caleb laugh, she just wished it didn’t feel like it was at her expense.

“Well, well Beauregard.”

“Caleb be serious. I’m so wired right now.”

“I fail to see a problem here, Beauregard.”

Beau pulled Caleb closer to her by the scruff of his shirt so that no one could hear them.

“Caleb do you understand that I work for a super-secret network of martial art spy monks that I super can never tell Jester about and if I date her that means she’s going to see my body probably. Well, hopefully. And she’s going to see that Dairon has painted my entire torso with her goddamn fists and she’s going to question me and honestly, I’m kinda scared I like her too much to lie to her.”

She pushed Caleb back into his seat and anxiously glanced around to see if anyone had heard her. Frumpkin clambered up onto Caleb’s neck and glared at Beau. Beau glared back.

“Then tell her, Beauregard.”

Beau’s jaw went slack for a second before she balled up her fists angrily and stormed out of the library.

Just outside the door she felt a hand grab her arm and pin her against a wall. She tried her hardest not to flinch as her bruised ribs collided with the wall a little harder than she would have liked.

When she looked up, she came face to face with Caleb, his expression immediately softening as she collided with the wall.

“Sorry. But listen to me, Beauregard. Actually listen to me. I know what they teach you in this place but it is not the only aspect of your life. Sometimes getting attached can make you stronger. I can see the way this is eating away at you. You deserve respite in your life. Look at us. You let me in and we are both endlessly happier for it. Has it affected your training? No. I think Jester is the kind of person you deserve in your life and you are making mountains out of molehills here. Also, on the downlow, I think she’s also the kind of person who would find this part of your life… kind of cool.”

Beau was breathing hard trying to fight down tears. Stupid Caleb and his stupid words. Stupid Caleb and his stupid correct words. She let her defensive posture fall slack and she wrapped her arms around Caleb’s neck, burying her face into his shoulder. Caleb froze for a second before easing his arms slowly around her.

“I think you have done all the studying you are going to do today. I think we should get some fresh air.”

Beau nodded and went to grab her things from the locker room.


	5. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date Night!!!!

By the time 1pm rolled around on Tuesday, Beau was still nervous but just the normal kind of first date kind of nervous. Sure, that had manifested in her spending approximately 3 hours picking an outfit and eating an entire net of oranges instead of a proper breakfast. So definitely the normal kind of nervous.

She also spent 20 minutes googling Jester’s house and screenshotting the maps so she knew exactly how to get there before she got on her bike.

She reached Jester’s door 15 minutes early. She heard Dairon’s voice in her head saying “Early is Late” and there was a moment of panic. Oh, Dairon really would kill her if they knew what she was doing right now.

She was pulled out of her spiral by Jester’s front door slamming open. Jester was smiling brightly, wearing a floral sundress that matched the ribbon that held her hair in a bun. Beau was utterly gone. Everything about the Cobalt Soul and Dairon and her training disappeared from her mind. Jester bounded over to her and flung her arms around Beau’s neck. Beau felt a short stab in her ribs but she ignored it in favour of hugging Jester back.

“Beau you’re early! Come in! I have picked some movies and they’re all good so you have to help me choose.”

By this point Jester had grabbed Beau’s hand and was dragging her through the door towards her living room.

Jester’s apartment was chaotic in the most wonderful way. There were tapestries and candles everywhere. There was a beaded curtain attached to a wall with no door and an array of mugs cluttered on the coffee table. There were various photos of Jester with other people stuck to various things. There didn’t seem to be any method to how things were arranged but Beau found she liked it. In a way, it meant that every different thing you looked at held a little surprise. Kind of like Jester herself really.

Beau wandered over to the sofa and slowly sunk into it. The ridiculously soft cushions were an absolute godsend on her sore muscles and if she had been even marginally less interested in Jester, she would probably just have taken a nap right where she was.

As it stood, though, Beau was absolutely captivated by how Jester moved around her own space. Beau was trained in reading people but this situation was new. Beau had never seen someone so entirely at ease. Admittedly, that wasn’t particularly one of the things her studies had ever focused on and her only other real friend right now was Caleb who constantly looked a little bit ready to bolt from the room.

Jester was a breath of fresh air.

She collapsed beside Beau on the sofa and held out a tea towel. Beau took it, confused. It was ice cold.

“I know you don’t want to tell me why you’re hurt but that doesn’t mean I’m going to not help you. We don’t have to talk about it just put this on your ribs.”

Beau blushed and did as she was told. The cold on her bruises felt almost magical.

“Good! Ok now which movie do you want to watch?”

Beau picked the movie that looked the least… sickening and Jester hit play.

There was absolutely no way Beau could tell you what the plot of that movie was. As it started, Jester curled her legs underneath her and leaned into Beau’s side. Jester ran colder than Beau thought she would but Beau still felt like her body was on fire.

Jester’s arm rested loosely at the small of Beau’s back and she kept whispering little tidbits about the movie into Beau’s ear. Beau wasn’t used to this much physical contact, especially not on a first date, but everything in her soul was shouting that she wanted more. She wanted Jester closer.

She carefully laced her fingers through Jester’s.

As the credits of the movie started to roll, Beau couldn’t hold off anymore. She had to tell Jester before she got way too involved. This had to hurt as little as possible if Jester ended up wanting to cut and run. She tried to pull her hand from Jester’s but instead she just ended up pulling Jester’s arm across her body, causing Jester to turn to face her.

“Jess, I need to tell you something.” Beau tried to keep the waver from her voice as she tried to stop thinking about how close Jester’s face was to hers.

“Ok. This is a really awkward angle though. Let me just… That’s better.”

Beau let out a shaky breath as Jester flung a leg across her own legs, straddling Beau, and smiled sweetly.

“Fuck. Ok listen. If you want to still do this after I’m so very down but seriously I have to talk to you first.”

Jester looked suddenly very concerned and went back to sitting normally next to Beau. Beau said a silent prayer of thanks to the gods of self-control and turned to Jester.

“Ok so. I’m going to tell you something a-and you have to promise not to tell anyone else. Actually no one else can even know you know this secret at all. You kind of have to pretend you know absolutely nothing. Apart from to Caleb, I guess, because he also knows. Maybe one day you can get closer to this secret but really for now it’s very important that you keep it. And I mean like “The government will literally come for both of us and everyone in my life” kind of important.”

Jester looked deadly serious now. It was a new look on her. Beau didn’t know if it was good but it wasn’t fear so it was going to have to do. “I promise.”

Beau took a shaky breath in before continuing.

“The coffee shop I work at isn’t actually a coffee shop. I work for an order of monks called The Cobalt Soul. We deal in intelligence and collect history. It is our business to know everyone’s business. Also we are heavily trained in multiple martial arts for when we are sent on missions. The coffee shop is a front and through the staff room door is the entrance to the entire training facility. I train there both academically and physically four out of seven days of the week. The operation started as being controlled by the government but we only truly serve knowledge so, when the government secrets we were exposing went against the grain, they shut the whole thing down. Well, most of it. So understand, if we were to be discovered as one of its remaining outposts, the consequences would be truly dire. I have always been told not to get attached but I really like you a whole lot, and the only way I could ever go on with this was if I told you. I’m sorry for putting this weight on your shoulders… I’m starting to think this was actually a terrible idea. Oh my god what have I done? You didn’t sign up to any of this. Oh my god. Jester I’m so sorry.”

Jester sat still for a second processing everything Beau had said. Beau could feel the tears welling up in her eyes before Jester slowly nodded. Slowly and with purpose, Jester swung her leg back over Beau’s legs so they were face to face again.

“Ok.”

Beau looked at her puzzled. “Ok?”

Jester shrugged. “I always wondered why the coffee kinda sucked.” And before Beau could say another word, Jester’s lips were on hers. Beau’s hands flew to Jester’s face as she kissed back. Jester’s hands rested at her hips as she tried to pull their bodies even closer than they were.

Jester broke away from the kiss and brought her lips to Beau’s ear. “So, you do martial arts and also maybe know everything? That’s kind of hot, Beau.”

Beau laughed a little but it turned into a gasp as Jester’s cold hands made their way under Beau’s shirt. As she pulled Beau’s shirt up, Jester let out a little, “oh” at the sight of Beau’s torso.

“Beau, is this from training?”

Beau grimaced slightly at the sight of her own injuries. “Uh yeah. I haven’t been doing so well recently and I’ve been given a week off to heal. I guess my mind has been, uh, distracted.”

Jester traced her fingers over Beau’s skin sending shockwaves through Beau’s nerves. Slowly Jester’s hands traced lower and she smiled.

“Oh, you mean me? Oopsie! Let me see if I can find some other way to distract you instead then, yes?”

Jester remained utterly true to her word and Beau didn’t think about the Cobalt Soul again for the rest of the evening. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone for reading I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Lots of love and feel free to throw any beaujester hcs my way at thunderfcknroad on tumblr and twitter!


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